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This study examined the associations between classmates' reading-related gender stereotypes and students' reading self-efficacy, self-concept, motivation, and achievement. Our sample consisted of 1,508 fifth-grade students (49% girls; age: 10.89 years); data were collected at two time points. Multilevel analyses yielded two main results: First, there was a relation between students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes and their reading self-concept, self-efficacy, and motivation with boys experiencing negative and girls experiencing positive effects. Second, a contextual effect was found: after controlling for students' individual reading-related gender stereotypes, classmates' gender stereotypes were negatively related to all of the boys' reading outcomes. The results provide evidence for the assumption that classmates are important communicators of gender stereotypes and that they reinforce conforming behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science performance is highly affected by students’ reading comprehension. Recently, there has been a growing attention to the role of linguistic features for science performance, but findings are ambivalent, especially when looking into item word count. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of students’ reading comprehension and item word count of given science measures on performance, controlling for students’ cognitive abilities, gender, family language, and school track. The sample consisted of N = 2051 German students in grades 10 and 11. Students completed (scientific) literacy measures. We then applied a multilevel logistic regression to investigate the hypothesized interaction effect of reading comprehension and word count on students’ science performance. The results showed a significant interaction of students’ reading comprehension and word count on science performance, controlling for several covariates. Particularly students with high reading comprehension benefit from science items with increasing word count. Our findings empirically support previous research, showing that reading comprehension is crucial for science performance and enhances the interaction between reading comprehension and linguistic features of written text in science subjects. Finally, theoretical and practical implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

In the present study we investigated which role manipulated (i.e., experimentally induced) and perceived (i.e., self-reported) self-control depletion plays in students’ (N = 176 seventh graders) ac...

Trait self-control, the ability to interrupt undesired behavioral tendencies and to refrain from acting on them, is one of the most important socio-emotional skills. There had been some evidence that it outperforms intelligence in predicting students’ achievement measured as both school grades and standardized achievement tests. However, recent research has shown that the relationships between trait self-control and measures of achievement are more equivocal, emphasizing the importance of the respective outcome of the test to the individual. On the one hand, high-stakes school achievement measures such as GPA repeatedly showed strong relationships with trait self-control. On the other hand, findings on the relationships between trait self-control and performance in mostly low-stakes standardized achievement tests were more heterogeneous. The substantial positive relationship between intelligence and both achievement measures is uncontested. However, the incremental value of trait self-control beyond intelligence when investigating their relationships with achievement remains uncertain. To investigate the relationships of self-control with school achievement and two standardized achievement tests (school mathematics and physics) beyond fluid reasoning, we drew on a large heterogeneous sample of adults in vocational training (N = 3,146). Results show differential patterns of results for fluid reasoning and trait self-control and the achievement measures. Trait self-control and fluid reasoning showed similar relationships with school achievement, whereas only fluid reasoning was significantly associated with standardized achievement test scores. For both achievement measures, no significant interaction effects between trait self-control and fluid reasoning were found. The results highlight the utility of trait self-control for performance in high-stakes school assessment beyond fluid reasoning, but set limits to the overall value of trait self-control for achievement in standardized assessments—at least in low-stakes testing situations.

This study focused on how teachers’ gender stereotypes are connected to teacher expectations, and examined the relations between students’ gender, teachers’ gender stereotypes, teacher expectations of students’ reading ability, and students’ reading achievement. Our sample consisted of 54 teachers and 1358 fifth-grade students (49% girls; age at T1: 10.89 years); data were collected at two time points. Multilevel analyses yielded three main results. First, after controlling for students’ previous achievement, teacher expectations predicted students’ reading achievement. Second, teachers’ higher expectations concerning the reading ability of girls explained the differences between boys’ and girls’ reading achievement. Third, a cross-level interaction was found: teachers with stronger stereotypes favoring girls expected girls to have higher reading ability than boys. Thus, our results contribute to the understanding of gender-specific teacher expectations by explicitly investigating the role of teachers’ gender stereotypes.

Educational research emphasizes the advantages of multimethod designs. However, if the design comprises different perspectives, the question of construct validity emerges. We related this question to student and teacher ratings of student–student relations, which are of high interest in research on physical education. In our study, 2,160 students and their 114 physical education teachers answered parallel items. Data was analyzed by applying the multi-level correlated trait-correlated method minus one approach, which makes it possible to consider multiple indicators per trait and to distinguish between trait, method, and error components. The student–student relations subscales student conflicts, class cohesion, and pleasure in demonstrating were reliable and valid regarding the two perspectives. Moreover, teacher and student ratings of student–student relations were consistent to a certain extent. The administered questionnaire was suitable for both perspectives. The applied model provides a good...

The present study with 353 students aimed to examine the validity of a questionnaire called the Value Beliefs Questionnaire for University Students (VBQU) measuring five value beliefs among university students, namely: intrinsic value, attainment value, cost, utility for daily life, and utility for career. Furthermore, this study strived to explore the situated expectancy-value theory by linking those five value beliefs to multiple individual characteristics of university students (i.e., academic self-concept, procrastination, test anxiety, academic achievement). Results of CFA provided strong support for a 5-factor structure and a hierarchical structure of four major value factors (i.e., intrinsic, attainment, cost, utility) and two utility factors. Significant intercorrelations among the five value beliefs and correlations of the five value beliefs with the other individual characteristics of university students also established validity evidence of the VBQU. In line with (S)EVT, academic self-concept and intrinsic value significantly interacted with each other in predicting academic achievement.

The widely-used Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS) is usually applied as a unidimensional measure of trait self-control. However, there is no clear empirical evidence for the scale's unidimensional structure, while different multidimensional conceptualizations of the BSCS have recently been suggested. The authors of those multidimensional models used different BSCS item subsets to specify distinct facets of self-control in order to enhance the representation of the scale's internal structure or to increase the instrument's efficiency in predicting various outcomes. Up until now, little is known about the relative performance of these conceptualizations. In this article, we compare three two-dimensional representations of the BSCS with the unidimensional measure in two samples of university students (N = 205) and apprentices in vocational education and training (N = 1951). Of the two-dimensional models only the one that separates positively and negatively worded items showed a consistent improvement in model fit in both samples, compared to the unidimensional model. However, in comparison to the unidimensional measure, the two-dimensional measures did not substantially enhance the predictive power concerning outcome variables in either sample. We conclude that the BSCS's total score is a viable option for assessing trait self-control and for studying its relationship with achievement-related outcome variables.

Personality development in emerging adults who do not attend college after high school has been largely overlooked so far. In this study, we investigated personality development in emerging German adults (NT1 = 1,886, MageT1 = 18.01 years, 29% female) undergoing vocational education and training (VET). The trainees were assessed at the start of VET, 1.5 years later, and another 1.5 years after that, just before graduation. Longitudinal latent change score analyses were applied. Bivariate analyses investigated life satisfaction and job strain as social and work-related aspects that are potentially reciprocally related to personality development. Mean-level personality changes included increases in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in the first interval. In the second interval, neuroticism decreased and conscientiousness increased. Simultaneously, trainees reported a gradual decrease in extraversion and openness across the 3-year time span. Personality, especially agreeableness and conscientiousness, emerged as a stronger predictor of changes in job strain and life satisfaction than vice versa. For example, more agreeable and more conscientious trainees subsequently showed increases in life satisfaction. Trainees reporting higher job strain subsequently showed decreases in agreeableness. Trajectories of personality development partly support the maturity principle that has been established in many college student samples.

This research aimed to identify reciprocal effects between reading comprehension and spelling in a shallow language in lower secondary school students. We drew on two samples from a German longitudinal study comprising N = 1227 and N = 994 students who were repeatedly tested at the beginning of grade 5 and grade 7. In both samples, we found reciprocal effects between reading comprehension and spelling with a greater effect from reading comprehension to spelling than vice versa. The results of our study not only add to our knowledge about the importance of proficient reading comprehension for spelling but also to the growing body of literature showing the importance of spelling knowledge for reading for understanding.

Although there is a vast amount of research on reading motivation, evidence for bidirectional associations between reading self-concept and reading achievement is still missing, whereas there is compelling empirical evidence that suggests reciprocal effects between academic self-concept and achievement in other domains. This paper aimed to rigorously test reciprocal effects between reading self-concept and reading achievement within a longitudinal design comprising four waves of data collection. Drawing on a sample of N = 1508 secondary school students, results of structural equation modeling yielded support for reciprocal effects between reading self-concept and reading achievement. Strong support was found for the skill-development hypothesis, i.e. achievement predicting self-concept. Moreover, the self-enhancement hypothesis (self-concept predicting achievement) was corroborated in early years of secondary school. Thus, to best support poor readers, reading skills should perhaps be fostered by boosting the reading skill itself and reading self-concept, the latter particularly at the beginning of secondary school.

Background. Assigning students to different school tracks on the basis of their achievement levels is a widely used strategy that aims at giving students the best possible learning opportunity. There is, however, a growing body of literature that questions such positive effects of tracking. Aims. This study compared the developmental trajectories of reading comprehension and decoding speed between students at academic track schools that typically prepare students for university entrance and students at non-academic track schools that usually prepare students for vocational education. Sample. In a longitudinal design with three occasions of data collection, the authors drew on a sample of N= 1,508 5th graders (age at T1 about 11 years, age at T3 about 14 years) from 60 schools in Germany. The academic track sample comprised n= 568 students; the non-academic track sample comprised n= 940 students. Method. Achievement measures were obtained by standardized tests of reading comprehension and decoding speed. Students at the different tracks were closely matched using propensity scores. To compare students’ growth trajectories between the different school tracks, we applied multi-group latent growth curve models. Results. Comparable results were recorded for the complete (unmatched) sample and for the matched pairs. In all cases, students at the different tracks displayed a similar growth in reading comprehension, whereas larger growth rates for students at academic track schools were recorded for decoding speed. Conclusions. Our findings contribute to an increasing body of literature suggesting that tracking might have undesired side effects.

This research aimed at identifying unique effects of reading motivation on reading performance when controlling for cognitive skills, familial, and demographic background. We drew upon a longitudinal sample of N = 1508 secondary school students from 5th to 8th grade. Two types of intrinsic reading motivation (reading enjoyment, reading for interest), one type of extrinsic reading motivation (competition), and reading self-concept were measured by self-report questionnaires. Cognitive skills (reasoning, decoding speed) and reading performance were assessed using standardized tests and background variables were collected using student and parent questionnaires. Applying latent growth curve modeling, positive unique effects of reading enjoyment and reading self-concept and a negative unique effect of competition on the initial level of reading performance were recorded. Moreover, a positive unique effect of reading for interest on reading performance growth was recorded. One may conclude that enhancing students’ interest might be fruitful in terms of nurturing reading performance.